


A Big, BIG Change

by ariannadi



Series: Other Tidbits [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cullavellan babies, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Fluff, Humor, Kid Fic, Kid POV, Other, Run-On Sentences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 16:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4144641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariannadi/pseuds/ariannadi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's not exactly sure what a "big brother" is, let alone if he's ready to BE one.</p><p> </p><p>  <b>NOT CANON AS OF TRESPASSER'S RELEASE.</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Big, BIG Change

**Author's Note:**

> Ah family fluff. My favorite genre ;)
> 
> So this is a little fic told from Adam's (my Cullavellan baby in this series) POV. He's about two-three years old in this installment so a lot of the dialogue and sentences are simplified in vocabulary and run-on in some parts. (Because, kids.) Just a forewarning in case that kinda thing annoys you. This is seriously some of the sappiest stuff I've ever written though so hopefully that makes up for it.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Question? Concern? My tumblr: [here](http://www.martini-september.tumblr.com)

“You’re going to have a big job in a few months,” says Daddy with a wide grin, and Adam can’t contain his curiosity, nor his excitement.

A big job? At that moment, Adam feels like a real grown-up like all the rest of his family, and immediately he thinks of Auntie Cassandra and her sword and shield. Maybe Daddy will ask him to help fight a dragon, like Uncle Bull does sometimes. He sees himself in armor like Uncle Blackwall’s, charging at the beast with ferocity, and his happiness only blossoms more. He knows Daddy knows how much he wants to help, he’s told him so _millions_ of times while he trains his soldiers.

“Wha job?” Adam asks, thumb so valiantly stuck in his mouth, blankie wrapped around his shoulder in vigilance. Daddy laughs and bends down to pick him up, and Adam curls into his shoulder, watching ahead as he carries him toward the hall with the many windows.

“A very important one, Adam. Your job is to be a big brother,” Daddy explains, but Adam is most certainly confused.

“Big bwother?” he questions automatically.

Daddy laughs again and ruffles his hair. Adam wonders why Daddy doesn’t ruffle his own hair. Instead he pushes it back. Mommy pushes it back for him sometimes. But she never ruffles Adam’s hair. Instead she runs her hands through it, and calls him her “curly-haired baby”.

“Yes, Adam,” Daddy says, and Adam looks around at all the people who stand in different places in the hall with the many windows, all talking and eating. They look at him and Daddy, and they smile, and Adam shyly smiles back as his thumb returns to his mouth.

“Wha do big bwother do?”

Daddy doesn’t answer, he only laughs. He seems to be laughing a lot today, Adam notices. But then, he turns towards his and Mommy’s room and opens the door, and says quietly, “Just be patient, little cub. You’ll see when the time comes.”

 

* * *

 

He can hear Mommy singing when he rounds the corner to her and Daddy’s bedroom one day. She’s sitting in the chair by the fireplace, reading a book. Adam pauses when he reaches the top of the staircase, but Mommy already knows he’s there and waves her hand for him to come over as she sets her book on the floor. Slowly he walks to her, and she holds out her arms which he knows means she wants to hug and kiss him and Adam most certainly does NOT like that at all.

“Adam Lavellan Rutherford,” Mommy says with a certain smile, and he knows it’s her don’t-be-bull-headed-and-listen smile, which she does a lot when she wants to hug and kiss him and he doesn’t want it at all.

But he goes anyway, and Mommy pulls him into her arms and presses one quick kiss to his forehead, and Adam sticks out his tongue in disgust. But then he notices something.

Mommy feels different, he observes as he sits on her lap. She feels softer and rounder, and with a curious mindset Adam presses his hand to her tummy, and he finds with excitement that he’s exactly right. She _is_ softer and rounder!

“What do you feel, Adam?” she asks him, her fingers winding around the ringlets of his hair. Adam shrugs, then presses again, then sits back a bit, and twists his lip.

“ _Mamae_ , wha you eat?” Adam replies with his own question, and Mommy laughs as she presses- _another!_ -kiss to his forehead.

“Oh, _da’len_ ,” Mommy says, then gently takes both of his hands and presses them flat against her tummy. Adam turns his head slightly, he’s seen the dogs in Skyhold do it when they don’t understand something. He waits for something to happen, but nothing does, so instead he looks up at Mommy. “That’s your little brother or sister,” she finally tells him, and Adam is _even more_ confused.

“Lil’ bwother? Lil’ sistah?” he repeats, because he is so lost and doesn’t understand what Mommy means or why whoever she’s talking about is in her tummy!

“Yes, love,” she says. “They’re very small at the moment, but they grow bigger every day. You grew in my stomach too at one point, did you know that?”

“I din’t come from your tummy.” Adam says seriously, and Mommy giggles.

Slowly she stands to her feet, and she cradles Adam against her as she walks around the room. “Then where did you come from, little Adam?” she asks, and Adam grins as he pulls at the necklace around her neck. He’s always liked this necklace. It’s a gold coin, but Mommy says it’s very special, and very lucky. Adam wishes he had one of his own.

“Daddy says I came from da Mak-ah,” he replies, because _he_ knows the answer of course. Again, Mommy bubbles with laughter and brings him over to the large bed, then kisses him on his cheeks – one, two, three times – before she finally sets him down.

“Oh, _da’len_ ,” she says again with a sigh, and Adam grins a toothy grin as he rolls over to the end of the bed and snuggles into the pillow that smells just like Mommy.

 

* * *

 

Mommy gets bigger and rounder every day, and sometimes she can’t even stand up without either Daddy or someone else helping her. She cries a lot too, and Adam worries, because she never cries. Daddy tells him that it’s “normal” when he asks, but Adam knows better. There has to be a reason why she cries!

But then again, Adam thinks, sometimes _he_ cries for no reason at all. Maybe he can teach Mommy a thing or two.

One night, when he can’t sleep, he lays with Mommy in her and Daddy’s bed, and she runs her fingers through his hair until he starts to close his eyes. But then Daddy comes in from working and Adam is awake all over again, watching as Daddy offers a look of apology to Mommy, who’s giving him a look herself.

“I almost had him asleep, Cullen,” she says to Daddy as he begins taking off the different pieces of his armor. Adam wonders as he watches just how heavy the armor is. He hopes one day he’ll get to wear some of his own.

After Daddy gets dressed into his regular clothes he settles on the bed next to Mommy. Adam is about to ask if Mommy can tell him a story so he can maybe start to go to sleep again, but suddenly she gasps and Daddy sits up really fast and she holds her hand up for him to wait. Then, her other hand comes to rest on her _ginormous_ tummy, and she starts to smile really big. She takes Daddy’s hand and places it in the same spot her hand was in, and he begins to smile too, and all Adam can do is look on in confusion.

“Adam,” Mommy says, and gestures for him to get closer. He does so, and Mommy places his hand next to Daddy’s. He feels something small moving inside, and he says “woah” and both Mommy and Daddy smile down at him as he continues to stare at the spot underneath his hand.

“He or she is finally waking up,” says Daddy, and Mommy nods, and Adam can see she’s…what’s the word…relieved?

“Of course just as I’m about to sleep, though,” she smiles, and Adam feels a solid nudge where his hand still rests and quickly jerks back.

“Hey!” he squeals, shaking out his hand.

“Looks like he or she has quite the kick,” Daddy laughs deeply, and Adam scowls. This isn’t funny at all! The thing inside Mommy _kicked_ him!

 

* * *

 

Adam is upset, and nobody seems to be paying attention to him as they run in and out of the hall with the many windows. He wants Mommy, but she’s somewhere he can’t go to for the time being, as Auntie Josie says. Daddy is with her, so he can’t go to him either. Why did they leave so suddenly? Where did they go? Why did they leave him behind?

Every time he asks Auntie Josie, who’s sitting at her desk while Adam sits on the floor with his toys, drinking the tea that Adam _hates_ – it smells like dust and mint and tastes even worse, she tells him that he’ll find out soon enough. But that’s not good enough! He wants Mommy now, and he wants to know _why_ he can’t see her!

And then, just as Adam is about to cry because everything doesn’t make any sense to him, Daddy comes through the door at the end of the room and smiles so widely at both him and Auntie Josie. Auntie Josie stands from her desk and she’s smiling too, and Adam still sits on the floor, but his tears have quickly disappeared.

“So? Is everything alright? What’s the verdict?” Auntie Josie asks as she walks up to Daddy.

He nods, at first, but then he says, “They’re both fine, perfectly healthy. It went very smooth, and, _Maker_ \- but, it’s a little girl and she’s…oh Josephine, she’s so beautiful. She looks just like Arian.” He sounds like he’s about to cry, and Adam can’t figure out why. So he stands to his feet and walks over to Daddy and Daddy smiles as he grabs onto his leg to let him know he’s there.

“Daddy, you alright?” Adam questions him in concern, and Daddy bends over to pick him up, kissing him on his nose and causing Adam to scrunch up his face.

“I’m alright, Adam. I want you to meet someone though. It’s very important,” Daddy says, and Adam immediately nods. Of course he’ll meet this person if it’s very important! So Daddy turns from the room with Adam in his arms, and Auntie Josie is following and Adam can see she’s grinning ear-to-ear, and eventually after wandering through the hall with the many windows they are through the door to Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom.

It’s very soft, but Adam can hear Mommy talking to someone – like the way she does to him before he goes to sleep at night. As soon as he sees the large bed, he sees Mommy laying there with a bundle of cloth in her arms, and she’s singing to it and leaning forward to kiss it. She looks very tired, and her face is sweaty, and Adam doesn’t know what to think of what he sees. Daddy carries him over to the bed anyway, and Mommy looks up and smiles happily when she sees them both.

“Adam, come here for a moment, darling,” she says quietly as she sits up more and scoots over a bit. Adam obeys as he’s set on the bed, and he crawls over to her and cuddles up against her body because he missed her so much and she's so _warm_ he thinks and suddenly he glances down at the bundle and-

He gasps.

There’s a little face in the bundle of cloth, it’s tiny and pink and it keeps opening and closing its mouth, and Adam just continues to stare. Suddenly a little hand comes free as well, waving around randomly before Mommy gently tucks it back under the cloth. Adam notices that the little thing has hair like his, just very, _very_ short, and its eyes – which are scrunched closed, are too big for its head and its nose is too small and its lips are too red and-

What is this thing? Who is it? Why is it so _small_?

“Adam, this is your little sister, Celeste,” Mommy finally whispers, then turns her head to kiss him on the top of his own. Daddy is still there at the side of the bed, watching him and Mommy and the little thing with a very happy smile.

Little sister? And then it all clicks. He remembers Daddy telling him about being a big brother a long time ago, and he realizes that _this_ is what that meant. He was to be a big brother to his little sister, of course! He smiles as this realization comes to him and reaches out toward the tiny face, touching her cheek with his hand.

She’s so _soft_.

And then, Celeste opens her eyes, and they’re blue just like his! But Adam flinches away when she suddenly begins to cry. And then, because it seems right, Adam starts to as well. He’s an _awful_ big brother already, he thinks, and it makes him cry harder.

Daddy is there then, taking Adam into his arms and shushing him, while Mommy does the same to Celeste as she rocks her back and forth. Adam can hear Auntie Josie laughing behind them, and she says, “Ah, the sibling rivalry begins already,” and both Daddy and Mommy stop to give her a look.

Later, after they’ve settled down and Auntie Josie has left, Adam curls up against Mommy again, and this time Daddy is behind her on her other side, running his hand along her arm, and Celeste is laying on Mommy’s chest, sleeping and drooling and making little noises. Adam can’t help his curiosity at that moment, something Mommy says he gets from Daddy, and so he asks, “Why is she so small?”

“She’s a baby, Adam. You were this small too when you were born,” Mommy replies, moving her arm to run her hand through his hair.

“How come she doesn’t talk?” he then asks, and he hears Daddy sigh as Mommy giggles a little.

“She will eventually, _da'len_. Don’t worry about that,” she tells him.

“The longer the better,” Daddy snorts, and Mommy lightly swats him on the arm.

“How come she doesn’t like me?”

Mommy yawns, and Daddy gently curls his hand behind her neck. "She's new to this world, little cub," he says in place of Mommy, and Mommy rests her head against his shoulder as she closes her eyes. "Give it time, she just has to get used to everything, including us."

"She likes _Mamae_."

"She'd better, I only carried her around for nine months," Mommy says tiredly, and again Adam doesn't understand what she means. He never saw her carrying Celeste before today. He's about to ask another question, but when he looks up Mommy is already starting to sleep, and so he quickly shuts his mouth. He looks down at Celeste where she still sleeps on Mommy's chest instead, and he grins at her, even if she can't see it.

"I'm gonna always look out for you, mkay Ce-less? Even if you don't like me. Cause I'm your big brother," he tells her, but _quietly_ , because he doesn't want to wake Mommy - she seems so tired after all. Daddy looks over at him as he talks, but doesn't say anything. But Adam can tell he's happy, because he squints his eyes, and he always does that when he's happy. Adam is happy too; he doesn't really know _why_ , though. Maybe he's happy simply cause Mommy and Daddy are.

Yeah, he concludes after some deep thought, it's probably that.


End file.
